Written by Ashleigh McGregor, Edited by Madison Cooper
Having celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day on February 5th, we saw celebrations of what women have achieved in the world of sports. Motorsports has long been a male-dominated sport, from drivers to race engineers to fans.
However, the last couple of years have seen a surge in female viewership of motorsport, which brought a bigger microscope onto the conversation of women belonging in motorsport. It raised the question of why there aren’t more women here. Women enjoy the sport, can participate in it and deserve to have equal opportunity to work in it.
Women drivers like Katherine Legge prove that they belong and not just because she is a woman. Instead, because she has talent and dedicated hard work to her craft like every other driver. Legge most notably had four successful seasons in IndyCar. She drove in the ARCA Menards Series opener this year and has previously started in five NASCAR Xfinity races.
This explosion of women in motorsports has impacted all levels of the sport. Fans have carved their own communities on social media- like TikTok, where they can come together to support each other, make connections and build opportunities.
Something as simple as making a friendship bracelet has contributed positively to the motorsport community. These bracelets connected fans to both each other and the drivers. During a race weekend, you will sometimes see drivers wearing bracelets they have been gifted from fans. Many drivers enjoy receiving them, and at times, they have become a talking point for them on social media. Race tracks, like the Circuit of the Americas, even had multiple friendship bracelet-making stations scattered throughout the track.
Women are making strides in the community and getting jobs in engineering, mechanics and commentary. The biggest impact is seeing the women and girls on the track. Giving fans someone who looks like them that they can look up to and know that if they want to, that could one day be them.
NASCAR has not seen a woman in the cockpit since Danica Patrick in 2018. Seven long years later, Legge just wanted to have a clean race and finish all the laps in Arizona at the Phoenix Raceway. Legge had managed to bring the unstable car up to 28th place but with less than a hundred laps to go she made slight contact with another car that made her spin. Car No. 99 driven by Daniel Suarez had nowhere to go and ultimately took Legge out, ending her race.
The ultimate goal for Legge is to continue racing in this series and prove that she does indeed belong.
Representation matters and having Legge be on the biggest stage NASCAR has to offer will undoubtedly have an impact. Young female fans watching will see that it is attainable for them, and they deserve to take up space in motorsports, too.
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